That about sums up Patrick’s luck and performance this year. Either she runs well and gets wrecked or she struggles and produces another mediocre or poor finish.

To say that Patrick, America’s premier female racer, has struggled in her first full NASCAR season would be a gross understatement.

Stunk is more like it.

And the honest and forthright Patrick likely wouldn’t argue with that.

Her first full season in the Nationwide Series has been far from what she expected and far below the expectations placed on her pretty head.

She’s shown some modest improvement and some slight progress, but it’s hard to notice that amid all the wrecks and poor results.

In 21 Nationwide races, she has just one top-10 finish—eighth at Texas in April. She has a few 12th- and 13th-place runs, but she’s also wrecked at Daytona (twice), Iowa, Dover, Indy and Watkins Glen.

Most of the crashes weren’t her fault, and some could be attributed to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Patrick has found herself in the wrong place way too often in a season pockmarked with disappointment.

After two part-time seasons in the Nationwide Series, many expected her to contend for wins and possibly the series championship. Instead, she’s 11th in points in a series in which only 13 drivers have attempted to run competitively in every race.

She trails one driver (Joe Nemechek) who has one fewer start than her and the full-time drivers she is ahead of race for small, underfunded teams.

Her rookie teammate, Cole Whitt, has outperformed her despite being younger and having far less racing experience.

That she completed both races without any kind of trouble was considered a victory in a grand experiment that has gone terribly wrong so far.

Over the next three weeks, Patrick will run three Nationwide and two Sprint Cup races. She will run seven of the final 13 Cup races, beginning next week at Bristol—a race that must be looming like a nightmare for her.

It’s time for her to step up and show that she can not only drive these cars, but race them competitively. She needs to finish strong in the Nationwide Series and prove that she at least can be competitive in Sprint Cup.

If not, she will face even greater pressure and scrutiny next season when she attempts to run the full Cup schedule for Stewart-Haas Racing.

If she leaps to Cup after such mediocre results in Nationwide, it will merely confirm what many fans already believe—that she’s getting her shot with an elite Cup team simply because she’s a woman, one with the distinct advantage of being pretty and popular.

Patrick took a huge risk when she made this move. She had a budding open-wheel career and was IndyCar’s biggest star. She could have continued to attract competitive rides and might have won more races.

If she continues to flop in NASCAR, she will face a million I-Told-You-Sos and risk jeopardizing her reputation as the best female driver in motorsports history, which in turn could damage her reputation as a sponsor’s dream.

She doesn’t need to fail, and NASCAR doesn’t need her to.

As a woman competing in a predominately male sport, Patrick is a huge story and attracts media attention wherever she goes. Though many fans don’t like it, and rival drivers resent it, she attracts more media attention and generates more Internet traffic than any NASCAR driver not named Earnhardt Jr.

She is as polarizing as Kurt and Kyle Busch, but for different reasons.

Many fans love her because she is attempting to do something no woman has ever done. She is a trailblazer and an underdog.

Others hate her because they believe she’s getting her opportunity simply because she’s an attractive woman, while more deserving drivers don’t get the same breaks.

Regardless of which side you fall on, Patrick is a legitimate star. Her record on the track may not prove it yet, but her exuberant and engaging personality and marketing prowess bring two valuable assets to the sport—sponsors and global exposure.

Her magnetism, star power and gender have attracted attention and a following, valuable commodities in a sport struggling to sell tickets and hang on to its respectable TV ratings.

Patrick needs to succeed and NASCAR needs her to shine. But to do that, she must add the other piece to the puzzle—performance.

It’s time for her to step up and prove that she’s more than a media darling and just another pretty face.